Brandauer proved that SME manufacturers can compete with the big boys on technology at a prestigious awards ceremony held last night.
The metal pressings specialist beat off competition from tens of firms to be named joint winners of the ‘Innovation in Manufacturing’ title, sharing the accolade with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
Judges for the West Midlands Tech Awards, organised by BirminghamLive and CoventryLive, pointed to the Birmingham-based company’s investment in bringing its own product to market – the first time in over 100 years.
EloPin®, a groundbreaking press-fit product that allows the solderless connection of terminal pins to a PCB, is promising to revolutionise the world of automotive electronics and the first contract, worth nearly £1m, has already been secured.
As part of the ‘new product’ journey, Brandauer also invested heavily in Visi Vero CAD/CAM software and Microsoft Dynamics Navision, a state-of-the-art Enterprise Resource Planning system that helps to optimise processes.
“We are delighted to have won the ‘Innovation in Manufacturing’ Award and shows what SMEs can achieve when they combine industry understanding with an ability to deliver solutions to a common issue,” explained Rowan Crozier, CEO of Brandauer.
“Sharing it with a company the size of JLR is a major boost for our employees and a clear reinforcement that we are doing things right. EloPin® is proving a global phenomenon and we fully expect it to generate over £2m of revenue in 2019.”
He concluded: “The era of digital manufacturing is upon us and the West Midlands is well placed to drive adoption of Industry 4.0 so that it creates wealth and employment.”
The West Midlands Tech Awards are designed to celebrate the people, businesses and organisations who are using digital innovation to drive positive change for the regional economy and its people.